Dairy, Gluten, Egg and Sugar Free BROWNIES

Only six ingredients in these VERY chocolatey  baked onboard Brownies:

2  Sweet Potatoes
14 Medjool dates
2/3 cup Ground Almonds
 1/2 cup Rice flour ( or any flour you like)
4 tbsps. Raw Cacoa
3 tbsps. Pure Maple Syrup.

Totally natural and unrefined they really are the sweetest, most moist, chocolatey brownie ever. The Sailing Holiday lads and lasses didn't need to be asked twice to sample them!

Method:
 Peel and chunk sweet potatoes and steam until soft. Whizz together with the dates until blended - I have a stick Blender on Lerryn Lady. Mix in all the other ingredients and stir well. Spoon into a lined and greased loaf tin ( or whatever small deep pan you have) and cook for 20 mins at 180C or Gas 4 until a pierce with a kebab stick comes out clean and dry. Leave the cake to cool for at least 10 minutes in the tin as this gives it time to 'stick together', then remove from tin and leave for another few minutes before cutting into small squares - WARNING they are really Moorish.

 

Necessity being the Mother of Invention...

Some days I really need friends around - on those days I make up a friend or two :O)

 

Group hug going on :O)

 

 

 

Mizzen Mast goes back up - *Drum Roll*

The lads arrived on schedule...

Greg ran over his plan, three lads onboard and the others twirling the mast into position... good job we have a passerelle!

Steady lads...

 

 My plan didn't go quite to plan, only enough battery power for a few seconds Video

 Patch, Isaac and Dan positioning the mast foot in the cockpit.

Ralph with one of the  steadying sheets...

A cockpit full of helpers starting on the beer run - Job well done lads - thank you! 

Elvis in Corfu

 

The King lives in the Shoe shops here!

Heartbreak Hotel :O)

Mizzen mast Service on Pontoon

We had the mast propped horizontally on the pontoon. You may recall we had to de-mast to get the Wind generator re-cabled properly.

This is looking down from what is the very top of the mast. Our steel man 'Croz' ( a great Geordie) drilled this big hole - you can see a steel bar in there as well ( this bar supports the pulleys) this is  also what prevented us Mousing the cable! That's Greg down there in the blue shirt.

Both masts were originally gold anodide but weathered back to the aluminium
over the years. So, we rubbed them down, gave one coat of etching Primer then a few coats of gold paint (not literally). Looking really good now and we can just imagine her when she made her first appearance on the launching ramp at Upham's yard in Brixham over forty years ago. Of course we have made a rod for our backs as the Spars have to be done as well :O) I am sure Lin & Rob will be delighted to see how much we are loving her. Funny thing, all the young lads working the season for Sailing Holidays just hang around asking questions about Lerryn Lady and want to sail her - can't beat the oldies it seems :O)

Easter Sunday in Corfu :O) Watch Video on Full Screen

All year round, households keep pots of water in their homes to attract bad spirits away from the family. Then come Easter,  the only sensible thing to do with the pots of 'nasties' is this  - happens island wide :O)

Credit for the video goes to a young Kiwi called Liam McCorkindale from Dunedin South Island - he was one of the guys helping us with the mast last week. Thanks Liam :O)

Just to let you know we have 8 people following the Blog in the Ukraine -

I would like to say 'Hello' to you  :O)

Я хотів би сказати, 'Привіт' до вас: O)

Lerryn Lady's Mizzen mast coming down - watch the video full screen!

 

Last Autumn we removed the wind generator from the top of the Mizzen ( the smaller mast) for servicing. It proved impossible to re-set the generator after the service because the cable feeder had been dog-legged when first fitted years ago. In order to get this sorted we've had to take the Mizzen mast down, lay it on the pontoon, and get our metal man, Croz, to drill a larger hole in the top of mast to clear the way to thread the cable again.  The video shows part of the process of de-masting with several ropes and willing helpers. We're fortunate to have loads of young guys about who are working for Sailing Holidays Corfu. They are all switched on and experienced AND willing to help out. We used the topping lifts on the boats either side to lift the mast out of the seat socket in the cockpit. It all went very smoothly and within half an hour of gentle manipulation we had the mast secure and supported on the pontoon. Later the lads came back and polished off a few crates of  beer - win win all round. More on the mast next week :O)

 

Almost there...

 

 

This is Isaac, concentrating on the job in hand. He was born in Cornwall but grew up on Orkney, sailing, fishing and messing about with engines!

 

 

 

We had to take Lerryn Lady out to align her Mizzen with the topping lifts on the yachts either side  - see our new passerelle hanging there :O)

 

 

Slowly bringing her back to the pontoon as the mast is manipulated.

Corfiot lady and rainbows

This little old lady stopped to tell me in Greek ( and explicit body language) about her arthritic knees. She's obviously walked miles in her day as her legs are in great condition ( all the way up)!! Greg told her he had a bit of arthritis in his wrist; I pointed to my head and she roared with laughter. We picked a small bag of the nasturtiums you can see on the right, had then in a salad later

 

Caught the tail end of a rainbow after a shower yesterday.

Blooming Corfu

Curtains of Wisteria and Jasmine perfume everywhere, Lerryn Lady is on the left behind the flowers. Noticed this morning that the Wisteria flowers are beginning to drop.

Lemons just begging to be picked. Recalling the mantra: 'If life throws lemons make lemonade,' yesterday I made a litre of lemon cordial.

Hello from Corfu :O)

For all you lovely people who cannot just fly the nest and sail away, we Welcome you back to our Blog. Please come with us as 'virtual crew members' on our travels this year and if at all possible, come and join us 'literally' on one of the Greek Islands!

We flew back to Corfu on the 1st April. Within 30 minutes of leaving the aircraft we were sitting on deck drinking a beer. We've really missed our floating home this Winter :O)  After inspecting Lerryn lady for neglect,  we can report that she is as snug and safe as we left her five months ago - not a speck of damp or mould anywhere. All we had to do was kick our shoes off for another year, get into shorts and tee shirts and open the beers.

First morning breakfast consisted of Ann and Roger's phenomenal homemade Seville marmalade on local bread with coffee:

Absolutely delicious!